boot(-)strap » boots-trap

Germans have the strength and the will to pull themselves out of a crisis by their own boots-traps, if only they believe themselves capable of doing so. (Address by German President Roman Herzog, Apr. 26, 1997)

One would run into a trapped, self-referential problem if the “test” result were scrutinized in the same way as normally done with an external measurement equipment where a prediction value is acquired to estimate the validity of the result. No wonder that algorithms of the iterated Bayesean type are called “boots-trapping methods” and associated with hermeneutics. (Hans H. Diebner, "Dasein's Edge on its Description", Nov. 21, 2004)

After boots-trapping the start-up of the JXTA platform, for which there are two options, the GUI application will want to instantiate one instance of the net.jxta.instantp2p.PeerGroupManager class. (JXTA Demonstration GUI)

Some examples make an explicit link to “traps” or “trapping.” Appears to be a common reinterpretation among German writers using technical English.

[… to pull themselves out of the crisis by (a tuft of) their own hair …]

This is an obvious reference to the Baron von Münchhausen, who, in the German version of the story, was said to have pulled himself out of a swamp, in which his feet were trapped, by his own hair. “Sich am eigenen Schopf aus dem Sumpf ziehen” (to pull oneself out of the swamp by a tuft of one’s own hair) is a very very common German idiom.

The version where he uses his bootstraps to achieve the goal appears to be an American re-telling, unknown in Germany outside scientists’ circles. (Frankly, it makes even less sense physically — wouldn’t he topple over and fall back in head-first?)

I even seem to remember that my childhood book of the Münchhausen stories mentioned his boots staying trapped in the swamp. Or maybe that’s the way I imagined it.

Apparently, the translator wanted to use the appropriate English idiom and got confused about the image behind it.